Previous devices and methods have been proposed for mounting vehicle tires on rims when automatic means are used to spread the tire bead and force the tire over the rim to produce the assembling operation. In the state of the known devices, the rim is mounted on a conveyor, and a tire is supported on the rim in a preliminarily assembled relationship. The rim and tire are then moved to the mounting apparatus. The mounting apparatus spreads the bead of the tire and forces the tire over the wheel rim to locate the tire between the wheel rims so that the tire is then ready for inflation. In the case of a tube-type tire, an additional step is required in order to place and locate the tube within the tire carcass.
The tubeless tire configuration has been conventional in the art for an extended period of time, however in recent years the diameter of the rims, width of the tires and height of the tires have been subject to enormous variation and different combinations in an attempt to design a vehicle tire suited to a particular vehicle model having the desired handling and performance characteristics sought by the purchasing public. In view of the wide variety of vehicle tire and rim configurations, it has been difficult to provide an automatic mounting device capable of adapting to various rim sizes and wheel sizes in different combinations without undue downtime in order to reconfigure the tire mounting head for the specific size of rim and tire to be assembled. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a tire mounting apparatus capable of efficient, rapid and economical operation when faced with a variety of rim sizes and tire sizes on the same tire mounting production line.